Manhunt Is On for Law Grad Sought for Questioning in Girlfriend's Beating Death

Updated: A little over a year ago, Jason Bohn was mentioned in the New York Times as one of a number of law graduates struggling under a heavy burden of student loan debt as they look for desirable jobs in a down economy.

Now the University of Florida law graduate is in the news again, because he is being sought for questioning by police after his girlfriend was found beaten and strangled to death in their Queens, N.Y., apartment, according to the New York Post and other media reports.

NY1 News links to a video clip of a news conference in which Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Bohn called authorities Tuesday night.

“He calls the police at the 114th Precinct and states that ‘We had a dispute, I threw her against the wall and somebody should go check to see if she’s all right,’ ” says Kelly. “When police respond, her body is found in the bathtub surrounded by ice. She had trauma to the head.”

He had previously been charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly beating Thomas and aggravated harassment for the allegedly threatening her on her cellphone while she was at the police station seeking a protective order, according to the Daily News and the Post.

It does not appear that the 33-year-old Bohn has been admitted to practice in either Florida, where the couple formerly lived, or New York. However, his LinkedIn page says he has worked as a paralegal and contract attorney and is “efficient and composed in high-pressure environments.”

Bohn wrote in a 2009 essay posted on the Jewish Child Care Association’s website that he was a ward of the state who suffered abuse from his father at home, was eventually abandoned by his mother and lived in a group home as a teen. There he initially disobeyed staff and beat up other kids, Bohn said, before realizing those in charge were trying to help him.

The Gainesville Sun’s Chalkboard blog reports that Thomas had earned a master’s in business administration degree from the University of Florida and said she met Bohn at a Gators football game.